Gun ownership is something that many people have in common in the United States. However, there has always been a tension between the right to bear arms and the regulation of said arms to promote their safe operation by authorized users. The amount of regulations affecting gun ownership is voluminous and has evolved over many decades with many states having enacted their own gun laws on top of the existing federal structure. Some of these state laws are directed to the classification of guns, which impacts who may own certain types of firearms or whether at all. These state laws tend to be more stringent and may involve increasing the use of background checks, further regulation or banning of certain features on a firearm, and even totally banning particular types of firearms and ammunition.
For example, some states have banned the sale of semi-automatic rifles with magazines that can be quickly detached by pressing a button. Other states have passed legislation that requires the registration of certain types of firearms as “assault weapons”. Classification of a fire arm as an “assault weapon” generally restricts their access, possession, and transfer. Some of the features that cause a firearm to be classified as an “assault weapon” are, for example, a folding or telescopic stock, a pistol grip, a second hand grip, a flash suppressor, and a threaded barrel configured to accommodate a flash suppressor. Accordingly, it is desirable for owners of guns that would be classified as “assault weapons” to modify them such that they become compliant with their state's regulations and hence fall outside the classification of an “assault weapon”.
Modifying or sporterizing firearms to remove some or all of these offending features is a growing market and many different accessories to make firearms compliant with gun regulations are becoming available. One popular accessory for owners of AR-15 semi-automatic rifles is a fixed stock and grip that is complaint with the current gun regulations and replaces the gun's typical telescopic stock and pistol grip. An example of such a fixed stock is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,568,273. Models of AK-47 rifles generally include one or more of the offending features such as a pistol grip. Unfortunately, many of the accessories used to sporterize firearms to make them compliant with gun regulations have not been tailored to be compatible with AK-47 rifles. Consequently, it is virtually impossible to legally own such a gun in many jurisdictions.
The foregoing background describes some, but not necessarily all, of the problems, disadvantages and shortcomings related to firearm accessories designed to make firearms compliant with gun laws. There is a general and pervasive need in the field to provide a firearm accessory to enable AK-47 gun owners to sporterize their gun to make it compliant with the existing gun regulations.